The Treaty of Prairie du Chien, 1825

Treaty of Prairie du Chien, 1825

After the War of 1812, the U.S. government took an active interest in the northwestern frontier, including Wisconsin. Inter-tribal warfare was disrupting the fur trade and the influx of miners and squatters into Indian territories was increasing tensions between the tribes and settlers.

To address these problems, the U.S. government invited thousands of Indians representing all the tribes in the Upper Mississippi to gather at Prairie du Chien during August of 1825. Territorial governors William Clark of Missouri and Lewis Cass of Michigan facilitated discussions that produced a general treaty of peace among all the tribes and established boundaries between white settlers and Native Americans. Signed on 19 August by U.S. officials and representatives of the Sioux, Ojibwe, Sauk and Fox, Menominee, Iowa, Ho-chunk, Ottawa, and Potawatomi nations, the 1825 Treaty of Prairie du Chien tried to eliminate hostilities until separate treaties could be negotiated with individual tribes.

Shown here is a photostat of the handwritten document. To see a typed version of the text when viewing the manuscript, open the "document description" drop-down at the upper left, and select "page & text."